When Atiku, Makinde Returned to the Trenches

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar and Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State recently returned to the trenches after what seemed like a ceasefire.

Before and during the elections, the G-5 governors of the PDP, of which Makinde was a member, had refused to support Atiku’s presidential bid and had also embarked on verbal attacks to destroy the PDP presidential candidate’s chances of winning the election.

However, since the end of the elections, there has been a ceasefire.

But Makinde reopened the wounds last week when he lambasted Atiku for allegedly failing to reach out to him over the recent explosion that rocked Ibadan.

Speaking when the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, who paid him a visit in Ibadan over the incident, Makinde said out of the three candidates in the 2023 presidential election, only Atiku had failed to call him or send him text message.

“I am particularly grateful because the musketeers that went for the presidential election have reached out to me. The president has called me; you have reached out to me, but my own party candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has not called or even sent a text message.

“And I am saying it openly, so that our leaders will know that there is time for politics, you have a time for governance and you have a time for humanity,” the governor reportedly told Obi.

But in a swift response, Atiku, in a statement by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, clarified that his principal was among the first set of leaders to commiserate with the governor and the people of Oyo State over the tragedy.

Ibe said Atiku issued a condolence message over the Ibadan explosion on January 17, less than 24 hours after the incident, where he shared his commiseration and empathy with the people and government of Oyo State over the incident.

He said perhaps the governor was too busy to take track of media reports on the incident.

But it is particularly curious what the governor was expecting. Why did he not receive Obi quietly and cleverly leave Atiku out of their conversation? The same Atiku he betrayed and failed to support during the 2023 president election? The same Atiku who tried to see him during the election and received to see? Since after the election, has he cared to call Atiku? What is special about him now that he is bothered about his empathy?